Two minute slope inhalation technique for cerebral blood flow measurement in man. 2. Clinical appraisal.

The two minute slope technique for measuring CBF was devised primarily to study the response of the cerebral circulation to physiological stimuli. In this paper, measurements of the precision of the technique when applied to various groups of people are described, and measurements on normal subjects of the global and regional CBF changes in response to hyperventilation and hypercapnia are presented. It is shown that CBF measured using this technique during percutaneous carotid compression may prove useful in the prediction of cerebral ischaemia in patients who are candidates for carotid ligation.